Tuesday, March 8, 2016

If Two Wings sounds familiar to you, that’s probably because it was all the hype on social media, with many hailing it as Singapore’s best chicken wings.

The chicken wings boast a 40-year-old family recipe imparted from owner Jeremy’s granduncle, who used to sell them in a hawker centre decades back.

From not knowing how to cook (or so he humbly claims – he hasn’t seen half of generation X try to crack an egg) to being the master of the best chicken wings in town, Jeremy has come a long way. Yet he was inspiringly humble while sharing his story with us.

Two Wings first started off in an industrial park, before moving into its first outlet at the somewhat high end coffeeshop Salut in Bukit Merah. Since its early days, much hard work has gone into tweaking and fine-tuning the recipe of the much-loved chicken wings into what it is today.

Two Wings has now found its humble home at Essen, a hip coffeeshop enclave that almost exudes the vibes of a trendy bar.

Two Wings

The chicken wings were freshly fried upon order, and their tantalising aroma hit me even before the dish reached our table.

We ordered a platter of 6 wings. Fried to a perfect golden brown, the wings were LARGE, and let’s not deny that size does matter. We were told that each wing was on average 120g – whereas the ones you find in supermarkets are only 80-100g. So you know you’re getting your money’s worth in both quality and quantity!

And they tasted as good as they looked, if not better.

The simple, light marinade of salt and pepper allowed the natural taste of the chicken to shine through, rather than distract from it. The wings were crispy on the outside, yet still incredibly juicy and succulent on the inside.

Healthy Eating Wings

In fact, the chicken still remained crisp hours after having them to-go – something you don’t see at other joints. If you’ve ever tried eating leftover KFC for supper, you’ll know what I’m talking about. And hold off your judgment – I make much better decisions now, I promise!

Best of all, the chicken wings weren’t one bit oily. The wings were so skillfully fried that the fats dissipated into the frying oil, even under the skin of the wingette where the meat is most fatty. Even the platter didn’t have a trace of residual oil!

Jeremy then challenged me to wash my hands without soap. True enough, there was no greasy residue on my hands after a mere rinse with water – going to show that the residue was just chicken juices and not oil. Again, case in point: THEY WERE SO JUICY.

Another star of the show was the chilli dipping sauce. Lovingly homemade by Jeremy, it was kind of like Hainanese Chicken Rice chilli, but tweaked to be less wet so that it’s good for dipping, yet wonderfully retaining all the distinct flavours. It’s available to buy by the jar as well, and trust me, you’ll want to.

Chicken Wrap

We also had the chicken wrap. It was packed with generous amount of tender, juicy chicken cutlet, as well as greens, cucumber, and tomatoes, and enriched by mix of honey mustard sauce and a house special mayonnaise.

Let’s just say that if it’s possible for anything to taste healthy yet good, this is it.

Two Wings offers a good range of sides as well. We had the chilled mashed potato salad, which came as an unassuming ball packed with flavor.

Old School Mashed Potatoes

It somewhat reminded me of the old school, hand-mashed potato salads. Laced with peppery hits, it injected much excitement into this dish.

I love my Korean Fried Chicken, but the chicken at Two Wings are in a league quite of its own. I never knew there was this much to love about simple fried chicken! As their tagline goes, “one just isn’t enough”, but I’m not sure two is quite enough, either – they’re that amazing.

Also, I apologize for the amount of times I used “juicy” in this article, but allow me this one last time – the chicken wings were SO. GLORIOUSLY. JUICY.

Two Wings
Essen, The Pinnacle
1 Cantonment Road
#01-01

Author Pinky Chng is someone who, when not eating food, spends her time thinking about food. Or watching videos of penguins falling down.